I took  some pictures of the B&N event this afternoon on my cell phone to post here, but when I got home from that (after running several errands) not only were the pictures missing, so were all my phone numbers and pretty much everything on the phone, and it wouldn't connect to any service. It's like I got hit with a personal EMP.

Did all the normal revive-your-phone bit, called Verizon, and it turns out this phone just sucks (it's a refurbished replacement) and I have to go get another new one.

So, sorry about no pictures. It was a good event, and we're grateful that the store invited us. Here's hoping I can get a new phone before leaving for Atlanta, because I can't imagine doing a trade show without a cell. It makes it so much easier to coordinate all those people.

Thankfully, I've been using the online backup service that downloads my address book daily or weekly or something, and all I'll have to do is get a new phone and I can have all that restored--though I won't get the pictures back, or any ringtones I bought (don't think I did, since the 3 I bought on the last phone disappeared with the replacement), or my text messages (which I rarely do, but the ones I have I'd like to keep, especially the ones from 411 for numbers I never remember to program into my phone). And all my calls are going to voicemail rather than out into the void, so I'll be able to call anyone back. I'm not ignoring anyone, I promise!

And I even have photographic proof, thanks to my cool new (phone) camera. :) I've been playing with it for two days now. I'll have to share my rundown of the company party last night at some other time (they rented out the ENTIRE Space Needle! it was so awesome!), but see how cool this camera hidden in a phone is?



Meet David Farland, Brandon Sanderson (mistborn), and L.E. Modesitt. They're all three on a book tour together up and down the West Coast these last few weeks. They may be published by *cough*competitor's name here*cough*, but they're also all three friends from Utah. Brandon and I went to BYU together--we met on the staff of TLE, now known as Leading Edge Magazine, having dropped the "The." I met both Lee and Dave at Life, the Universe, and Everything, the annual science fiction and fantasy symposium at BYU. (That's the conference at which I'm going to be the Editor Guest of Honor this coming Feb.)

They were in town and wanted to see all the cool stuff at Wizards (plus, Brandon had been bragging about the swag he'd gotten the year before when he and several other friends came to visit), so it was great to catch up with them.

If you're in the Seattle area, and want to see them yourself, drop on by the University Bookstore in the U District tonight. They'll be signing at 7pm.



( Also, behind the cut, more cool stuff about my camera phone )

So I tell ya. The funniest part of today was hearing from Brandon Sanderson, Evil Undead Overlord and harbinger of cool gadget toys, that my phone was cooler than his. Ha!